Rabbit Moon Farm

damaged

2012-02-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture of Cob's favorite hen and the damage he's caused her. Click on the picture for a larger view. Now I know why someone invented chicken saddles.

Available on Etsy

2012-02-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Now available on Etsy as an 8x10 print. Check the sidebar for the link. Other pictures available as well. Go look!

Meh

2012-02-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

My idea didn't win Ben's little pros and cons list thing. But we did come up with other options on how to get out of here, one of which involves staying another year to make necessary repairs to the house to increase it's value. I'm thinking that's the one we're going to wind up going with. But we'll see how things play out.

In other news, Cob seems lonely but it's likely that he's just sexually frustrated at the moment from being cooped up like he's been. I still haven't decided on what I'm going to do with him. We can't keep him around the hens; he's too rough on them. And I'm only slightly okay with the idea of dispatching him and turning him into coq au vin. What if I mess up something while eviscerating him and have to throw him out? I really don't want to give him away because he'd wind up in the fighting ring. He's huge and ornery but that's no life for a rooster. Oh what to do with him? I guess dispatching him is the best option at this point. Now I just need to figure out the logistics of doing so.

Success!

2012-02-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

The second attempt at brioche is a success! A mighty tasty success at that. It's like cake. Om nom nom.

Aha!

2012-02-15T16:30:00.000-07:00

I think I may have figured out a way to get us out of this dustbowl town and back home to Georgia. It involves purchasing acreage from my in-laws so I haven't worked out all the details just yet. But I'm excited about my idea. Now to see if I can get Ben on board.

Brioche revisited

2012-02-15T12:36:00.001-07:00

Attempt number two at brioche starts now.

The Omnivore's Dilemma

2012-02-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading the above titled book. If I never see the word prodigious again, it'll be too soon. Now, beyond that small fault, it's 411 pages were quite interesting to read. I had no idea why corn was king in America before now and now I've got a better understanding of the workings behind the subsidies. Not a full understanding, but a better one.

I found his section on foraging food to be the most enjoyable to read. Probably because he wrote from a place of honesty about the experience of hunting a pig and hunting mushrooms. I can't say that I'll go mushroom hunting anytime soon, but I bet that if I talked someone into letting me tag along I'd have a better chance of conquering my own mycophobia. I'd have a better chance of hunting down my own deer or pig than I would a lowly chanterelle. Which is odd because I'll gladly buy them from the store, trusting that the strangers that hunted them for me were experienced enough to know the real deal and not pick a poisonous specimen.

But that's the general idea behind the omnivore's dilemma; what to eat and what to not eat.

Summary: good book. Buy it, read it, and contemplate thy own food belly button.

Success!

2012-02-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

The weekly egg customer was very happy with her eggs and can't wait until next week for more, she told me this morning. I'm very happy that she's happy with them. Makes the minor aggravation of sending in the yearly form for the Ungraded Egg Seller Card worth it.

So, yay me. And yay for the chickens.

Fail

2012-02-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

The brioche failed. Too high a temperature for too long a cook time lead to dry bread. Boo. But at least I know where the screw up was and can fix it next time I make it.

So far there's nothing out of the lone pot that I planted a few days ago. Which is to be expected really. It's still quite early.

We've decided on sending the spawn to the local private Christian school for a number of reasons that boil down to it's the best choice. The school we're zoned for has a horrible record and the process of getting him into a different public school is convuluted and there's no guarantee that there would be space for him and he'd wind up going to the horrible school. I'd personally like to homeschool but Ben is against that idea for his own reasons. I'm not totally sure what those reasons are but he's steadfast and there's no arguing with him. So it's the private school for the spawn.

Brioche

2012-02-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of making brioche rolls. They're on their chill cycle and will be there for 12 hours. I'll finish them off tomorrow after my photography class. Hopefully they'll come out well.

It's blowing dust today. And all the snow we got has melted. It was only about an inch maybe two. It's the first precipitation we've gotten in months. I'm actually surprised that there's dust blowing at all so soon after a melt.

It makes me worry about the upcoming summer months. Though they expect that La Nina will be dissipating and hopefully lifting the drought. I hope they're right.

Brisket

2012-02-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

So we found a brisket in the bottom of the chest freezer. Score! It's been rubbed down with an applewood rub and has been baking for an hour and a half now at 225. It smells great but it's got a ways to go. The only problem is that now I can't bake brioche like I want to. Oh well. Something to do tomorrow.

It snowed today. Nothing significant. Just about an inch or so. We'll see if those seeds I planted actually come up next week or if they've been killed off. If they don't come up I'll just replant. I mean it's February for cryin out loud. I'm just trying to take advantage of the weather while it's here.

The chickens are inside today. Cob is even hiding in the doghouse cause of the snow. They just don't know what to think out snow. They'll eat it with no problems but they won't go out into it. Go figure.

I'm a little nervous about having a weekly egg customer. I've always been nervous about selling the hens' eggs but something about having a regular customer is unsettling. Which is odd because you'd think I'd be happy. She wants at least two dozen eggs per week. I suppose I'll be happy for now.

Maintenance

2012-02-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

Just got back from picking up feed, litter, and a treat for the chickens. That's the most I've ever spent on them in one shot so far. The treat was probably the most expensive thing. (checks receipt) Nope. The feed was. Dammit. The price on feed has gone up since I bought feed a few weeks ago. Grumble growl. But the chickens are enjoying their "flock block" and clean litter and nest box filler. So that's what counts.

Sunset

2012-02-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

Raised bed

2012-02-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Figured I'd show y'all what the raised bed looks like so far.

Minor planting

2012-02-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've got some spinach and peas planted in a pot out by the raised bed. We'll see how they do since the seeds are on the older side. I hope they come up and grow well. But that's every gardeners hope isn't it?

Bed

2012-02-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

I put the frame of the raised bed together this afternoon in about a half hour. Two bricks high and six by six bricks. So it's about 3.5 by 3.5 feet. Or thereabouts. It should be sufficient for several crops at a time. Well several compact crops anyway. I just need to pick up topsoil and peet and mulch. I've already got the chicken manure.

That time of year

2012-02-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. The seed catalogs are starting to come in and as much as I would like to order gobs of seeds from their shiny pages, I know better now. There will be no planting this year. I've learned my lesson. Without raised beds and carefully tended soil mixture most things won't grow here. I only have enough bricks for one raised bed. I suppose that I could give it a go and grow a small garden this year just to see how it goes. But it wouldn't be enough to supplement our food with. Just as an experiment.

I've talked myself into it. I'll build one raised bed with the bricks that I have and plant some experimental crops in it.

Smart

2012-02-02T09:27:00.000-07:00

I got smart and put Cob in the dog pen instead of the hens. Now he won't shut up. Oh well. If it gives the hens a break then I'll deal with the noise. Still thinking of dispatching him.

Separated

2012-01-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

I've separated another one of the old black hens. She's not sickly. Cob just has her scared to leave the house or even the roost he harassed her so badly. I'm hoping to keep her penned long enough for her back to have a chance to heal up. I'm seriously considering dispatching Cob. He's turning out to be more trouble than he's worth.

Another loss

2012-01-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

I lost another of the old black hens sometime last night. She'd been sickly for a while, her comb and waddles fading to pale. I'd separated her from the rest of the flock with her own food and water in the dog pen but it was too late for recovery. The only thing I managed to do was give her some peace in her final days so she wouldn't be pecked and generally beaten on by the other chickens. I'm not sad. It's just what was coming so I was prepared. But still I wonder if there was more that I could have done for her.

knitting

2012-01-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fast knitter. I use knitting as a kind of meditation, especially if there's more to it than just a knit stitch. So it can take me up to a year to finish a project depending on how many breaks I take. It helps quiet my restless mind and work out kinks that I didn't know were there.
So to all you fast knitters, maybe you should slow down sometimes and let your mind wander with the work.

Moving forward

2012-01-14T11:26:00.000-07:00

Things here keep moving forward with or without my consent. The chickens continue to lay eggs and get older. We wound up putting the dog outside with a heat lamp over the dog house to at least take the edge off the cold. I have enrolled in a photography class at the community college. Maybe I'll have some fun new pictures to share with you guys. I'll admit that it's hard to find things to take pictures of around here since everything is brown or dirt. That's part of the reason I don't post all that many pictures.

Anyway, life continues uneventfully for me.

Travelling

2012-01-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

We'll be traveling to Albuquerque tomorrow morning so that Ben can talk to the VA. The chickens water and feed have been filled in preparation for their two days indoors. We haven't decided what to do with the dog yet since it's still getting below freezing overnight. I think we may just leave him in the house since his coat isn't built for cold weather.

I have feather hair extensions on the way from an Etsy store. I'm beyond excited. What does this have to do with homesteading? Those extensions are made from the rooster's saddle feathers. Those long feathers at the base of his neck can be turned into another source of income for homesteads willing to let their roosters mature. I thought that was kind of neat.

Well, off to bed with me. It's going to be an early morning.

Merry everything, and happy always

2011-12-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Things are looking up around here. I finished knitting one scarf and started another. I have a lady who's interested in my eggs and wants 5 dozen at a time. And my son is so excited to be opening his presents tomorrow that he can hardly stand it. There's already two presents under the tree and the rest will be coming from Santa Claus tonight. And I've got a line on a long shot job, which is better than nothing at all.
For right now, I'm happy.

Merry everything, and happy always.

Mundane

2011-12-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

This little farm, such as it is, has slipped into the mundane life of the everyday. Without a job, I find myself watching television more than knitting and I can't be bothered with housework. Depression seems to be setting in, slowly but surely. I still let the chickens out into the yard but the time seems to get later every day. I find no point in baking bread that will just go bad before it's even touched. The upcoming holidays hold little joy for me even though I have a small child to share them with. I just... I dunno. It's just the same thing everyday and it's wearing on me. I'd rather be sleeping than doing anything to stay busy. And I'm already seeing someone for depression. So no worries there.

Cooped up

2011-12-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

So everyone spent 2 days cooped up. Except Ben. He actually braved the roads in the Mustang to get to work. But the boy and I spent the time at home trying not to go crazy. So I spent two days looking through the Seed Savers Exchange catalog and dreaming. I wish I had better luck with their seeds.

Ice

2011-12-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

We got a little bit of snow. But more importantly we got ice. Not like a thick coating but enough to make the roads dangerous and close the schools. So far no power outages. (knock on wood) but we have provisions if it happens which makes me feel better.

Huh

2011-12-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

So that storm turned jut to be a huge disappointment, but we've got another one forecasted for Monday that has promise in terms of snow. We'll see what happens.

Dark

2011-11-30T17:09:00.000-07:00

So I had to change the bulb in the heat lamp last night.

By porch light.

It wouldn't have been so bad if the metal hadn't separated from the base of the bulb. Trying to figure that out in the near dark was impossible. I didn't figure it out until I was done and examining the bulb by porch light.

But it got changed and the chickens have more feed and scratch grains. They're about as ready for the storm as ever.

Prepared

2011-11-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

We've got some winter weather moving in this weekend and we're about as prepared for it as we're gonna get I'm afraid. We've got a few sticks of wood to see us through maybe a couple of days if we're judicious about how we burn them. We've got a stocked pantry and a camp stove and fuel. We also have the grill if we get desperate. Charcoal, that, so we can throw wood in there if we absolutely need to. I'll be taking out some cash in the next couple of days just to make sure we have it on hand since cards don't work when there's no power. And since we don't know enough about this storm yet I'm assuming the worst of it and doing my best to prepare.

Reading Just In Case has helped my viewing of preparedness as a necessity and not just the realm of cooks and paranoids.

Feasting

2011-11-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

I've made two pumpkin pies using my own pumpkin and the cranberry sauce is cooling on the counter as I type this. There's a turkey breast defrosting in the fridge and boxes of dressing waiting in the pantry. So even though I've lost my job we will still have a nice feast for thanksgiving.

So

2011-11-22T16:57:00.001-07:00

I got fired today for being inconsistent with my schedule. Oh well. On to the next job I guess.

On being thankful

2011-11-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm thankful that I'm able to have a house with some land to raise chickens and a few scrubby plants.

I'm thankful for three days off plus the weekend for Thanksgiving (even though it means a short paycheck for that pay period).

I'm thankful for having a job of any kind in such a craptastic economy and such a rural area, even if it means that I am vastly overqualified for what I do.

I'm thankful for my husband putting up with my crap, from chickens to mood swings, and loving me anyway.

I'm thankful for my healthy son, even if he is a handful sometimes.

I'm thankful for my readers who have managed to comment with just the right thing at just the right time to help keep me going on my quest for farmerhood.

I'm thankful for all the opportunities to screw things up because some of my best lessons have come from them.

Finally, I'm thankful for just being here and waking up every day.

No place for farming

2011-11-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided that this is no place for farming. The odds are just stacked against anyone who tries. Receding water levels, straight line desicating winds, extended exceptional drought, and serious UV exposure due to the high altitude have all done their level best to turn me off of farming altogether. But I'm not turned off. I just need to find the right place to farm. Somewhere that it rains on a regular basis. Somewhere I have to fight critters for my garden cause that means I can have something to hunt. Just somewhere the hell else. And a supportive community would be the cherry on top.

So my qwest for the perfect -or near perfect- place to farm begins. Now if I could just get the husband on board with the idea.

Mending fences

2011-11-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

The northwinds from a few days ago left the privacy fence with needed repairs. Ben was able to shore it up ok that day with some rope and some cleverly placed boards, but that was just to keep it from caving in against the wind. Today we actually went out with drill and screws in hand to do a proper mending.

I'm starting to get the hang of the drill, I think.

The sky is red

2011-11-05T12:45:00.000-06:00

The sky is red today. The winds are coming from the west and northwest and riding close to the ground. This has every lose spec of dirt stirred up into the air. The chickens have been sequestered to their house until the wind calms down.

Blasted weather

2011-11-04T14:55:00.000-06:00

I keep thinking that I'll get the wheat put in then the weather throws me a curve ball. Like, I'll have 4 days above freezing then the 5th and 6th days will be solidly below freezing. I just can't win sometimes.

On heat

2011-10-30T10:11:00.000-06:00

We have a fireplace. It has been used one time by the previous owners, so they said. It has neat features like an outside air vent and a circulating fan to pump heat into the house (which of course uses electricity) from around the outside of the firebox. Even with just the outside air vent it would be a good fireplace to have in the event of a power outage. In theory anyway. We have yet to try it out to see just how well it works. We only have enough wood to last a day or two as it is so it's kind of a precious commodity if we're going to rely on it for heat if the power goes out.
The chickens have had a heat lamp on for the past few days because the nights have gotten down below 30. I think today I'll double check the weather and see if I can unplug it for a few days. My main concern is the Delawares' combs; I don't want them to get frostbite on their single combs. I'm not worried so much about the Wyandottes' combs because they have rose combs, which keeps them tight to their head instead of waggling about in the air.

I still haven't put the wheat in. We've got a couple days coming up where it'll be down below freezing and I'm trying to catch a week where the lows stay above freezing. Though, what I could be doing is getting the beds ready, but I really could use some help with that. I'm still worried that I'll miss my window of opportunity and have to wait until next year to put in the wheat. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.

Snow

2011-10-27T06:20:00.001-06:00

It snowed last night. Who the hell turned on winter?

Change in the wind

2011-10-24T21:00:00.000-06:00

So, by Wednesday the high will be in the 50's and the low will be in the 20's. Guess I'll wait a little while longer to put in the wheat. It's supposed to get up into the 70's again later in the week again.

Interesting

2011-10-20T09:13:00.000-06:00

I wonder if they'd help me out even though I don't have an interesting backstory like combat injuries or TBI.http://www.farmvetco.org/

Damn

2011-10-18T18:29:00.000-06:00

Guess it's a good thing I never managed to get the wheat put in for a winter cover crop. It's gotten cold. It's down into the 30's overnight now and looks to stay that way for the next week or two. So I had a good idea just a little too late to implement it.

Freezing my eggs

2011-10-15T08:41:00.000-06:00

So the was pretty easy work. Crack, stir, pour, seal, repeat. I will see about using some in some pumpkin bread in about a week to see if I notice any difference. I imagine scrambled eggs from frozen would be a little off but I could try those too just to make it a thorough test.

Eggs

2011-10-14T19:09:00.000-06:00

I now have 7 dozen eggs. I'm thinking about freezing a couple dozen. Which, according to the University of Georgia, entails mixing the eggs slightly and putting it by the desired measure into the desired container. Sounds simple enough. And I'm bored enough to go ahead and give it a shot.

Will report back later.

Proud to be a greenhorn

2011-10-13T16:16:00.000-06:00

GH_Peek in Progress from The Greenhorns on Vimeo.

new blog

2011-10-11T19:02:00.002-06:00

I've started a new blog. It may be of interest to some of you. You can find it here: The Incredible Shrinking Becca

Yays

2011-10-10T18:26:00.000-06:00

The wheat showed up today. It looks to be in good condition. I just need to finish working the gardens over so there's no weeds left. Then planting begins! I know I'm a little late so I hope this works out. Only one way to find out.

I almost gave up

2011-10-10T09:05:00.000-06:00

I almost gave up my dream last night, my dream of having enough land to put out some cows and raise some meat birds, and generally grow enough food to be a self-sustaining household. My eyes are still hot and puffy from sobbing at a truth hard realized. See, Ben pointed out that the area where we can most likely get ahold of a large chunk of land doesn't care about anything but timber at this point. The soil is sand with hard pan clay underneath. And the area is going through an extreme drought just like out here. And Ben pretty much refuses to live anywhere north of Kentucky so that rules out any place in like Vermont or New York.

Buy I managed to rein in my dream a little bit and bring it back to reality. I won't be able to make a living off of farming. I can only hope to support my family and maybe my extended family a little bit by sharing any surplus. And that's going to have to be good enough.

I'm keeping my books though, dammit.

Becca's braised beast

2011-10-09T17:18:00.000-06:00

1. Procure beast (any chuck, pot, or arm are all good for braising, though some may argue on the arm roast)
2. Quickly brown beast over medium high heat in large stew pot
3. Apply beast stock to deglaze pan and get the extra noms into the cooking liquid
4. Allow beast to simmer for 45 minutes on one side, then flip and allow to simmer 45 minutes on the other side
5. Allow beast to simmer additional 45 minutes (apply veggies now if just for flavoring otherwise wait)
6. Apply veggies (celery, carrots, onions, potatoes are all good additions)
7. Allow to simmer 45 minutes.
8. Voila! Braised beast with veggies (if you want them)

Gravy can be made by either reducing the cooking liquid (takes for friggin' ever) or adding a mixture of equal parts butter and flour that have been blended together. 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons butter is usually just the right amount for 2-4 cups of liquid depending on how thick you like your gravy. Best served with rice if you're giving the veggies to your chickens, pigs, or compost pile.

Gah!

2011-10-08T11:10:00.000-06:00

I have four dozen eggs and am working on a fifth. I cannot give these things away! I would, too.

Anyone (local) want some eggs?

Preparedness

2011-10-07T19:42:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about preparedness today. Wondering how bad the winter is going to be has me worried about our food stores and heating the house. In the event that we get a hard freeze come through, I figure we can fill the garden tub with water so that at least we can flush the toilets. I'm less worried about things like tornadoes cause if they hit the house then all the preparing done will be undone. But the winters here are unpredictable at best and being prepared for at least several days worth of power outages is a good idea. Even though last year we managed to not lose power in spite of the below zero temps.

So yeah. That's what has been on my mind of late.

Wheat

2011-10-04T21:11:00.000-06:00

I just ordered 10 pounds of red winter wheat to use as a cover crop. I know. Not the best cover crop choice but my plan is to plant it as soon as it shows up, water it until we start to freeze, then let it head up in the spring time for the chickens. And for myself cause I've wanted to grow my own grain for a while.

I hope this little experiment works out in my favor. That would be awesome.

Yummy

2011-10-02T17:52:00.000-06:00

I went ahead and made applesauce last night with 3 pounds of apples I had on hand. Talk about a simple operation. And much better than store bought.

I also roasted 3 pumpkins today, pureed them, and stuck em in the freezer in quart zippy bags.

There are also 2 dozen eggs that have been boiled and are now sitting in the fridge. And I have 3 dozen eggs left to give away!

Something about this time of year makes me want dark beer. Just sayin.

Bah

2011-10-01T18:00:00.000-06:00

There will be no chicken book from me. Nor any other book, most likely.

I have stalled on my knitting again. I am restless and aggitated. I still have to roast and purée the pumpkin harvest. So far they're keeping well.

I have the ability to bring home up to ten pounds of apples for free. I think I might do that next Friday if there's still apples available. I believe I will try to make my own applesauce. But this could very well be just a passing fancy. I may lose interest.

I just don't know sometimes what I'm trying to accomplish.

Dare I?

2011-09-26T19:23:00.000-06:00

I have what seems to be the same amount of experience with chickens that Jenna Woginrich does. Dare I write a book about keeping chickens? Dare I put myself out there as a mentor to other novices in chicken keeping?

I don't see why I couldn't. If Jenna can do it, why can't I?

But the question really should be Why should I? Aren't there enough "experts" and books out there to get a complete novice off to a decent start? What angle or new information could I offer to the world? Or would I just be another gaping maw waiting for the consumer dollar?

If I were to write a book on chicken keeping, it would likely be a fairly small book. Chickens just don't take that much work to keep. Simple shelter, ample food, and protection from predators is pretty much all they need.

Now I've gone and put a bug in my ear about writing a chicken book.

Want

2011-09-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

I want my own milk cow and to learn how to make cheese. That would be awesome!

Goals

2011-09-24T17:21:00.000-06:00

I decided to outline some goals here to help guide myself in my homesteading adventure.

1. Grow as much of my food as I can manage.
2. What I can't grow myself, I will source locally.
3. I will work to make my family water conscience.
4. I will work to make my family energy consciene in the home.
5. I want to use alternative energy to supply at least part of the heat during the winter.
6. I want to learn how to put up food.

Now there's one area that I won't consider making any improvements to at present time and that's vehicles. Mainly it's because I want a Dodge Challenger SRT8 392 in the near future and I will use every rationalization I can to not feel guilty about driving one (the biggest point being that it gets better gas mileage than my Jeep ever did so it can't be that bad). There's something about cars though that I can't quite put my finger on, especially the new ones. I guess it's all the environmental features like catalytic converters and computer tuning. But I can't manage to feel guilty about driving, especially when you consider that you need to replace the power cells on a hybrid or electric every few years or so at $3-5k. That's just too much to me. I can easily make a well built, well taken care of car a one owner car. I'm rambling now so I'll quit.

Up to my eyeballs

2011-09-18T04:06:00.000-06:00

There's 6 dozen eggs sitting in the fridge right now. I've got a lady that's supposed to be coming by today to pick up about 3 dozen. So that should help.

My dishcloth project fizzled on me. I've got a couple of knitting books with neat stitches in them and I got all distracted and then wound up frogging the thing out of frustration. I'll start it again since it'll be the first really useful project I've knitted (the hats came out huge and one only needs so many scarfs). I might go ahead and knit an infinity scarf to sell on Etsy. I haven't made up my mind on that yet. They seem to be popular right now and designers are selling them. Plus it's a fantastic way to use my circular needles.

I've decided against a fall planting. The weather is just too wonky to be trusted and the amount of planting I would be able to do would hardly be worth the effort.

hmmm

2011-09-15T13:07:00.000-06:00

I think I'd like to learn how to can food. I don't know how and it doesn't seem like it would be all that hard really.

Also, I'm working on knitting a cotton dishcloth. Just sayin.

Happy birthday to me

2011-09-14T21:03:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday. I went to work, where no one knew it was my birthday cause I didn't tell them, and I got a nice carnation Teddy bear from the spouse delivered to work. We'll be going to a nice Japanese restaurant this weekend.

The chickens are faring well. I'm getting 3-6 eggs a day, depending on how the wind is blowing that day.

Cob Crowing

2011-09-11T17:22:00.000-06:00

Ben took a video of Cob crowing the other evening. It's a little crooked, but it's better than the black ones I'd taken in the early morning. Hope you guys get a kick out of it. Also I hope you guys notice the link to my recommended book for this post. I'll try to do this every few posts or so. It'll help go to support the chickens if you buy via the link. I'd appreciate it.

Video

2011-09-10T19:13:00.000-06:00

I have a video to upload for you guys but my Internet connection is crap. I'll keep trying and hopefully you guys will be able to enjoy seeing Cob crow.

Worried

2011-09-08T10:10:00.000-06:00

I'm worried about my friends that live in the Northeast. They've been getting more than their fair share of rain lately and I know right now that at least one of them is living on an island that has been created by the flooding.
I wish that we could figure out a way to transport flood waters to areas of the country that could use it. I'd love to see the area where I live green and growing again (though I don't miss the near constant noise of the lawn mower that all that green means). Mostly I'd like to not be worried about my well running dry.

Dye

2011-09-05T17:48:00.000-06:00

I dyed my hair today. Just a simple act that made me feel shiny and new. But it started me wondering if it was really necessary. I know that it's not since I've lived for a good many years without dying my hair and nothing bad happened to me. What else is necessary? I love my library but is it really necessary to have so many tomes? To me, the answer is yes because that's how I do my learning. First I read, then I do. So the books are indispensable. Tv? Not so much. I find myself turning it off more often than not and we've been without cable or satellite for over a year now. The only one suffering any ill effects is Ben, who is quickly running out of tv series to watch on Netflix. I've even gone so far as to ponder the necessity of the central heat and air conditioning. We have a fireplace that we could use for heat and ceiling fans to cool us down. But those are poor replacements in the eyes of my husband. So the central unit continues to dominate the electric bill. If I had more foresight I would hang dry almost all of the laundry. That takes a change of habit. Although rigging the dryer to pump warm air into the house instead of outside during the winter is appealing.

Just going on a bit of a tangent there. Letting go of things is both frightening and appealing.

Deadstock

2011-09-02T20:41:00.000-06:00

They say that when you have livestock you'll eventually have deadstock.

I guess three years is a good long life for a chicken. I would have liked to keep her around for longer but she up and died on me. It looks like she just went to sleep. There was no sign of attack or disease. She'd been getting kinda lazy the last couple days; not eating so much, going to roost really early, that sort of thing.

So now I'm kind of prepared to slowly start losing the rest of the old hens. I'll be surprised if they make it through the winter, actually.

Location, location, location

2011-09-01T18:09:00.000-06:00

I can only imagine what it's like to live in a bucolic, supportive community of farmers. Cause that's sure as hell not here. This area is all industrial ag. Dairies, vast fields of monocultures, and huge ranches with thousands of acres devoted to cattle. If you're not part of some conglomerate then you're not welcome it seems. You're lucky if you're tolerated at the basic level. Living and growing here is nothing at all like doing so in, say, the North East. I still pine for that sense of community and acceptance. The enthusiasm that is present in other areas of the country is what I really want. It just doesn't exist here. Older farmers aren't willing to help out new farmers unless they're family. People who do contract tractor work get more respect than new farmers.

I'm so over this area.

Puppies

2011-08-30T22:17:00.000-06:00

So some ass decided to dump a couple of sweet puppies at the house. We went ahead and fed them and I've contacted a local rescue group to see about getting them a home.

There's still small eggs being laid, but nothing on the level of the teensy egg the other day.

All else is quiet.

Teensy egg!

2011-08-27T11:57:00.000-06:00

It was roughly the size of a quail egg, just for reference. I laughed when I found it.

So far so good

2011-08-27T08:46:00.000-06:00

The job is going well so far. Not only do they feed us lunch on Fridays, we get to take home gifts of perishable food. You know, stuff that would otherwise go to waste. So that's pretty cool.
I harvested 8 little pumpkins from the vines yesterday. A couple of them are good size. They're sunning right now and should be ready to bring inside this afternoon. Just enough to dry out the stems and cure the skins a little bit to help them keep until I get around to processing them into puree. That's a day long adventure so it'll probably be next Saturday before I do that. Tomorrow I'll probably see about planting the pots with some fall type crops. Just a few. Something to supplement us through autumn. No carrots this time, though. They did poorly in the pots. None got any bigger than my thumb.

I can has job

2011-08-25T12:54:00.000-06:00

So I managed to get myself a job at the regional food bank. It doesn't pay much but that's to be expected from a non-profit. It's full time so I don't get to laze around bored anymore. My paycheck will go towards paying down our debt faster. I hope anyway. My history with jobs isn't the best. But with a little luck this job will pan out for me and I'll actually be able to contribute more to the household. Of course this means that any gardening is going to be happening on lunch breaks and weekends.

I caught one of the Delaware hens eating an egg when I checked just a few minutes ago. I snatched her out of the corner by her tail feathers and put her out the door of the house. Then I had to grab up the unspoiled eggs and the one she'd been eating on. The spoiled egg went over the fence and the unspoiled ones are in the fridge. Little butthead. So mad at her.

Failed

2011-08-21T20:57:00.000-06:00

I feel like such a failure when I look out at what's left of the gardens and see the weeds standing tall, the grass growing in thick enough to tangle any tiller's blades. I think the final nail came when I went ahead and put a note on my LocalHarvest profile that the farm is in hiatus for the rest of the year. I won't even be selling eggs anymore. Any extra eggs will just be given away at this point. I feel defeated and angry. The most planting I'll be doing is in pots and thus in limited quantities.

Eeeeeee!

2011-08-20T22:24:00.000-06:00

Yay for cashmere yarn!

It's so fluffy I could die!

Adventures in home crafts

2011-08-18T20:27:00.000-06:00

I've started a rag rug. It's rather non-traditional in that I'm not using real rags but remnants from the local Wal-Mart that I've been collecting.

I'm also working on a flat hat for the spawn. He picked out a camouflage acrylic yarn. It's knitting up okay, but I much prefer working with natural fibers.

Simple pleasures

2011-08-17T08:31:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you just have to have a milkshake at 8am.

That's the way it is for me today, with the ground still soft and the air still clean from the rain we got last night. The weeds even look a little greener for it.

In a little bit I'll let the chickens out and carefully step between them as I go to refill their font. I'll probably even let the dog out to play while I do the laundry since he hates the washing machine.

Just a simple day here.

Knitting

2011-08-15T20:56:00.000-06:00

I'm working on a scarf with a "patchwork" design to wherein I change patterns in roughly 3 inch squares. It's coming along fairly quickly and the lambswool yarn is knitting up very well. Pictures when I'm further along.

200th post

2011-08-13T14:50:00.000-06:00

The hens are hilarious. Cob has gotten rather randy, shall we say, and the other hens come to the rescue of the accosted hen and chase Cob away. He must still be pretty low on the pecking order to be getting chased away like that instead of being submitted to.

Still no laying from the Delaware hens that I've been able to tell.

Blahs

2011-08-10T07:15:00.000-06:00

It's quiet around here. Too quiet. The old hens have stopped laying or they've started eating their eggs. I can't tell which. The new hens haven't started laying yet. Which is frustrating when you're counting on those eggs to pay for feed. I think the heat might have something to do with it too. It's been on either side of 100 degrees for months now.

Sigh. I guess I'll just have to have patience and see how things work out.

Rain

2011-08-06T19:09:00.000-06:00

It's raining right now. Sounds like big fat drops. And the poor chickens are too goofy to go in their house to get out of the rain.

And just like that it's over. Before I could finish typing those couple of sentences. It's nothing to break the drought but at least I don't have to go out and water the pumpkin now.

This place is teasing me with conditions that are better suited to someplace back east.

I'm currently enamoured of a little college town in Kentucky called Columbia. Whether we'll be able to find work there is the main issue. I sent my resume to the college in town and I have another copy ready to go to a CPA that seems promising. We'll see if anything comes out of these endeavors. All I know is that Clovis is tiresome and someplace else would be ideal.

Handsome rooster

2011-08-06T14:11:00.000-06:00

Mmmm

2011-08-03T08:56:00.000-06:00

So I decided to pick up some heavy whipping cream the last time we went shopping. One quart to be exact. I didn't bother to look at the price of butter versus the price of the whipping cream, though. But a quick review of Albertson's retail website shows me that Land O Lakes unsalted butter (4 sticks) costs $6.19 for stores in the San Diego area. (Why San Diego? It seemed like a good choice among their in-store pickup service locations.) Plain old store brand heavy whipping cream (a half pint -8 fl oz- was the only size I could find on the website. Everything else was half&half.) costs $2.29. Now, keeping in mind that these are San Diego prices, that's still not a bad deal considering I think you can get about 2 sticks worth of butter out of 8 oz of cream. It might be less than that, though. Anyway, I think my quart of whipping cream only cost me about $3-4 at the locally owned market. And I got probably 4 sticks worth of butter out of 3/4 of a quart of cream. (Don't ask where the other 1/4 quarter went. It's just not healthy.)

Now for the how. I threw the cream into the food processor on low for 5 minutes and voila! Butter. Of course I had to wash the butter until the water ran mostly clear (you're supposed to go for clear, but I got impatient and went with mostly clear. It just means it'll have a shorter shelf life.). But, that was easy enough. Just pour off the buttermilk, add cold water and whiz about for a few seconds then pour the water off. Repeat. It took me a total of 15 minutes to make the equivalent of 3-4 sticks of butter. I even salted it lightly.

So, 15 minutes of "work" for something that costs less than what you can buy ready made? I think I like that idea. Plus it's just plain satisfying to know that I can make butter.

Cow-pooling

2011-08-02T12:48:00.001-06:00

Cow-pooling: Buying beef in mega bulk (TIME article)

Crow

2011-08-01T08:47:00.000-06:00

Cob (as we've taken to calling the rooster) has started crowing finally. It's kinda pitiful and not very loud, and he only does it in the very early morning, but crow he does.
It's hilarious and I'm proud of him. I may try to get a video of him in the next couple of days. Maybe. If I can bother to get myself out of bed that early. We'll see.

Dreaming

2011-07-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

This dry land has me longing for someplace green and lush. It's so hard to live here let alone grow anything that isn't scrub. I dream of rich loam and towering trees, green pastures thick with wildlife. I'm haunted by memories of birdsong.

Everything here is scarce, save for the sun and wind. It's time for us to move to a better area...provided we can sell the house. This place has exhausted us.

radish study

2011-07-22T19:48:00.000-06:00

I couldn't stand it anymore and I pulled up my lone radish. This is what it looked like.

All quiet

2011-07-18T19:49:00.000-06:00

It's all quiet here. The new hens haven't started laying yet and the garden is already in it's death throes. The pumpkin is doing amazingly well and has taken over the secondary garden. There still hasn't been any sign of a flower stalk from the radish. I'm so tempted to pull it that it's not even funny. I haven't made any produce sales but I can understand that not everyone likes squash and zucchini. I have found a new egg customer for which I am very happy. Not much else doing.

Maybe I'll start dancing burlesque to pass the time. Wouldn't that be a sight?

Thunder

2011-07-14T21:51:00.000-06:00

There's thunder outside again tonight. This makes the fourth day in a row that we've gotten rain. I'm still nervous about summer thunderstorms and the chaos they can sometimes bring in the form of hail and tornados, but we need the rain so badly that I'm willing to put up with anxiety for a while just to get the moisture.

Drought

2011-07-12T12:52:00.003-06:00

Drought spreads pain from Florida to Arizona

Go figure

2011-07-10T00:22:00.000-06:00

Threaten the plants with death and all of a sudden they decide to cooperate. At least the squash and zucchini are anyway. I'll still pull up the rest. They're done.

American Meat

2011-07-08T06:43:00.002-06:00

American Meat

No sign of improvement

2011-07-05T22:51:00.000-06:00

There has been no sign of improvement in the primary garden. I believe this weekend I'll be tearing everything out and officially calling the summer garden a failure.

Except for the pumpkin. The pumpkin is just ridiculous. And the radish is still growing it's bulb.

Possible crop failure

2011-07-03T23:26:00.000-06:00

I was looking at the primary garden this evening and things are in a sorry state. The twin sunflowers have rotting flower heads that never bloomed. The corn has stopped growing and has started to wilt. The zucchini plants are wilting as well. The squash plants have yet to produce harvestable fruit. And the tomatoes are already spent.

I'll give them a little bit of time to see if things turn around at all. Then I'll see about pulling it all up and preparing it for fall.

The world did not end

2011-07-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

We went out of town for two days. The dog was put in his pen and the chickens were left to fend for themselves with plenty of food and water provided.

And I didn't come home to a yard full of dead bodies, the house didn't burn down, the dog didn't dig out of his pen. Nothing was wrong when we came back.

I think that's the greatest fear of any homesteader or farmer- that their world will come crashing down if they leave. Some cases that's true. The larger farms need constant maintenance and looking after. But a small flock of chickens and a garden will fare quite well on it's own if left for a couple of days.

Waiting on the radish

2011-06-29T19:16:00.000-06:00

I planted the radish on May 16th. That makes it a month and a half old by now or thereabouts. It still hasn't made a flower stalk and the root is pretty sizeable, though long past being edible. I definitely want the seeds from this radish but waiting for it to bolt is driving me crazy. And this is all with 100+ degree weather.

In other news, the pumpkin is ridiculously happy and is growing to be quite a large plant.

How to make boiled peanuts

2011-06-26T18:52:00.000-06:00

Procure 4-5 pounds of raw peanuts
Fill a very large pot with 4-6 quarts of water
Rinse the peanuts until the water runs clear
Soak the peanuts in cold water for 30 minutes
The peanuts will float(the pains) so add enough water to get about 4 inches of clearance on the bottom of the pot.
Add 1 cup of salt per gallon of water. That's about 2-3 cups for a 12 quart pot depending on how salty you like your peanuts.
Turn the peanuts on to boil. Once boiling, allow to boil for a minimum of 3 hours. Check the nuts for salt and texture, which should be like a cooked dry bean. If they don't have that texture, check again in about 30 minutes. Repeat until the desired texture is reached.
Remove the nuts from the water so they don't become over salted. They can be served hot, room temperature, or cold from the fridge. Frozen, they keep indefinitely.

Boled peanuts

2011-06-26T00:40:00.000-06:00

The peanuts have been on the stove for almost 7 hours by now. I'm surprised that more people in the area don't boil peanuts since there's a peanut plant just down the road. It's not a huge crop for this area but it does grow here.

Such a fascinating little plant, the peanut. Did you know the nut grows underground?

My Georgia husband missed boiled peanuts. So...boiled peanuts had to be made.

around the farm

2011-06-21T18:52:00.000-06:00

First here's a picture of the rooster.

Here's a picture of one of the pullets.

Some zucchini.

My mutant sunflower twins.

And my swallow/sparrow tattoos by request.

Radishes

2011-06-20T20:23:00.000-06:00

There's a good sized radish in the garden but I can't pull it yet because I'm waiting for it to go to seed. How long do radishes take to go to seed anyway?

I'm surprised that it grew as large as it did given the heat and the soil conditions. I would think it would have gone to seed already. So far it seems a very good candidate for seed saving activities for this area. It sprouted fairly quickly, grew well with watering, and is slow to make seeds even in high heat conditions.

The sunflowers are stunted. They're only about three feet high and are starting to form flower heads. They're supposed to be giant sunflowers. We'll see what kind of flower they put on. I may throw out that batch of seeds depending on the flowers. Which sucks cause I hate wasting seeds.

Boo

2011-06-19T08:49:00.002-06:00

I think I may have committed murder on my sourdough starter. *sad face*

It's alive!

2011-06-18T10:34:00.000-06:00

My starter is well on it's way to being a viable bread. Once it's about a week old I'll make it into a loaf and let you know how that goes.

I harvested my first zucchini from the garden. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I might stew it up with some onions and squash. We'll see.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put lotion on my new tattoos. They're driving me bananas.

Tonight

2011-06-15T21:30:00.000-06:00

The moon is large in the sky tonight and the air is still warm from the day's oppressive heat. The gardens have long since been watered. The chickens have just been put up. I am restless. I want to be harvesting bushels of produce and will likely have to settle for a couple of buckets worth. This drought is really putting a damper on my farming plans. But I did speak with the state engineer today and am no longer as worried about the well as I had been. We have about 24 feet of saturation left in the well which leaves us in a pretty good place water-wise.

I believe I will try my hand at sourdough starter now.